Business Planning
Business Planning combines strategic planning with financial planning (or what we call optimal budgeting). The first half of this seminar draws on material from our seminar(s) on strategic planning and marketing analysis and planning. A strategic plan is an economic analysis of the market and industrial structure of the market and industry within which the business firm exists. The analysis determines the competitive pressures the business firm faces and what the firm can do about it. The strategic plan provides a way forward for the firm to not only survive the competitive pressures, but to thrive. The strategic plan chooses one of two possible alternatives: product differentiation, or cost reduction.
The second half of this seminar is about financial planning, or optimal budgeting. The financial plan provides a forecast of revenues derived from the demand the firm faces for its product(s) and services; the choice of products the firm produces comes from the strategic plan. To produce these products, the firm chooses the mix of inputs that minimizes the cost of production. We forecast these costs. Forecasting both revenues and costs provides a forecast of the profitability of the firm. Firm profits are not a choice of the management. Firm profits are determined by the industry structure. What is a choice is how the management responds to the constraints imposed by the industry structure and this response is the strategic plan. The financial planning portion of this seminar draws on material from our seminars on forecasting for business and optimal budgeting.
The Boston Forecasting Research Institute, Forecasting, Economic Forecasting, Macroeconomic Forecasting, Business Forecasting, Forecasting for Business, Business Planning, Strategic Planning, Business Analytics, Marketing Analytics, Predicitve Analytics, Forecasting Research, Budgeting for Business, Financial Planning for Business, Optimal Budgeting for Business